Spread the Love' campaign brings peanut butter to the needy

LANSDALE — Like many food pantries in the area, peanut butter is at a premium at Manna on Main Street in Lansdale.

“It’s something we always need here because peanut butter represents a very good protein source and it’s something most families can easily use because kids love it,” said Manna executive director Suzan Neiger Gould. “It’s one of the most crucial foods we can offer to people — whenever we get donations of peanut butter, it goes quickly, so we’re always looking to get more in.”

Enter Philabundance — the Delaware Valley’s largest hunger relief organization — and its annual “Spread the Love” campaign, which is back for a fourth year. The organization has partnered with Subaru so that for every new “like” Philabundance’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Philabundance) receives between Tuesday, Feb. 5 and Friday, Feb. 15, the auto company will donate a jar of peanut butter or jelly to Philabundance.

In turn, Philabundance will get that peanut butter to the many hundreds of food pantries and other agencies they’re partnered with in the region. The organization provides food to 38 such places in Montgomery County, including Manna on Main Street. Other locations include the Keystone Opportunity Center in Souderton, the Lamb Foundation Cornucopia Cupboard in North Wales and the Hatfield Church of the Brethren. Lansdale’s Community Housing Services was another major Philabundance partner until it closed with little warning last Friday.

“‘Spread the Love’ is one of our most popular and effective campaigns,” said Marlo DelSordo, director of marketing and communications at Philabundance. “It’s about getting peanut butter to the communities that need it, it’s about filling bellies with good nutrition and it’s a fun media campaign that raises awareness about Philabundance and hunger issues so that we can get people involved in the conversation about food poverty and what we can do about it,” she said.

To sweeten the pot, Philabundance is also giving away either a $500 airline voucher from US Airways good for travel within the continental United States, or a 7-night stay at a Caribbean resort through Elite Island Resorts, to one person who leaves a peanut butter recipe in the comments section of a Jan. 31 blog post by chef Nathan Volz (of 10 Arts Bistro and Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia) at Philabundance’s website (www.philabundance.org).

“It’s just another way to spread the word and entice people to get involved,” said DelSordo.

“I think it’s a great campaign,” said Gould. “We have a very close relationship with Philabundance. We’re one of their flagship agencies because we’ve been shown to operate a well-run food pantry that promotes nutritional options, is open daily and provides for a lot of personal choice for the community as far as the foods they prefer to take from us. Philabundance has been very, very helpful in bringing us a lot of food, whether it’s peanut butter or things that are perishable, like fresh produce,” she said.

“Manna is a fantastic partner and very mindful of helping communities, so we’re excited that ‘Spread the Love’ will help them and all of our other partners fulfill that mission,” said DelSordo. “All you have to do is ‘like’ us on Facebook and you’ve helped out, but we hope people decide to do more.”